4 Abu Salem gangsters shot dead

mumbai: four alleged abu salem gangsters, who were reportedly planning to gun down actor aamir khan and two other film personalities associated with the superhit film `lagaan', were shot dead in an encounter on 32nd road in khar early on saturday morning. the names of the deceased are sanjay singh, tanveer, abdul khan alias bablu and imran khan. said a senior police officer : ``salem, who is based abroad, had instructed the four to kill aamir khan, the film's director ashutosh gowarikar and financier jhamu sugandh.they were also given `supari' to murder a builder who is close to aamir and stays in malabar hill area. but we foiled their plans.'' according to police sources, aamir khan was recently threatened by salem with dire consequences if he did not give the overseas distribution rights of `lagaan' to him. ``but aamir refused to give in,'' an officer said. on receiving a tip-off, police commissioner m.n. singh instructed the crime branch team to track down the salem gang members concerned. accordingly, a crack team started down tracking down the gangsters. finally, it was able to lay a trap near patwardhan garden in khar (west). a police team led by inspector d.t. patil spotted the four persons at 2 a.m. they had arrived in the area on two motorcycles. when the policemen asked them to surrender, they reportedly pulled out two 9 mm pistols and two revolvers to fire at the police team. the policemen fired in retaliation, injuring them. they were taken to bhabha hospital and declared dead before admission. deputy chief minister and home minister chhagan bhujbal said the police acted with promptide and courage in this case and saved the lives of leading personalities like aamir. he said following the threats, adequate security was being provided to aamir and others. mr bhujbal said, ``the police action has once again shown that the police are ready to tackle any situation." he clarified that there was no panic in the film industry. " on the other hand, the film industry is reassured that the mumbai police have the situation under control," he added. he said the salem gang's action was also intended to disturb the atmosphere in the city against the backdrop of india joining the war against terrorism. he stated that the mumbai police had once again shown that no attempts to challenge the law and order authorities would be tolerated. according to police sources, hindi films had a lucrative market overseas. ``if a film is tipped to be a box office hit in india, the producer receives a call from salem for the overseas rights in u.k and u.s. salem has made huge profits on the overseas rights of several films,'' a person associated with the film industry said. he further stated : ``if producers are reluctant to part with overseas rights, they have to face the gun.'' last january, film producer/director rakesh roshan was shot at after he reportedly denied the overseas rights of his blockbuster `kaho na pyar hain' to salem. five months later, the salem gangsters planned to kill producer pahlaj nihalani, but their plan was foiled. the gang had also targeted well-known film maker j.p. dutta, but once again the police stepped in. the person, believed to be assigned the task of firing at mr dutta, was gunned down by assistant commissioner ambadas pote in an encounter. according to sources, salem is believed to have targeted several other producers for the overseas rights. his first target was film director subhash ghai when his film pardes was slated for release in 1997, followed by an aborted attempt on the life of rajiv rai at his tardeo office soon thereafter.